Cryptomining: the new lottery for cybercriminals
Cryptomining has surpassed even ransomware as the revenue generator of choice according to a Cisco Talos report, which claims crypto-mining botnets can earn hackers up to $500 dollars a day and a dedicated effort could equate to more than $100,000 dollars a year. Representing the perfect balance of stealth and wealth for cybercriminals and some unscrupulous,…
Malware ‘Cocktails’ Raise Attack Risk
Malware mash-ups hiding in encrypted traffic are boosting attack numbers and increasing the danger to data, according to recent reports. It was good while it lasted. The drop in malware attack attempts seen in 2016 – from 8.19 billion in 2015 to 7.87 billion – is but a fond memory, as 2017 saw more than…
Olympic Destroyer: who hacked the Olympics?
Long ago, during the Olympic Games, the participating countries halted their wars and put aside their political disputes. Today, the opposite is increasingly likely. The PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games started with a scandal: unknown hackers attacked the servers just before the opening ceremonies and many spectators were unable to attend the ceremonies as they were unable…
Tracking Malicious Insiders: Catch Me If You Can
The idea of malicious insiders stealing valuable assets brings to mind a picture of masked men breaking into a bank vault or museum and making a getaway with their illicit stash. But what if the enemy is one of us — someone who knows exactly where we keep our most valuable items, how we safeguard…
Most top US higher ed institutions fail to protect students from phishing
88.8 percent of the root domains operated by top colleges and universities in the United States are putting their students, staff and other recipients at risk for phishing attacks that spoof the institution’s domain, according to 250ok. Phishing and spoofing attacks against consumers are likely when companies do not have a published Sender Policy Framework…
Healthcare Experiences Twice the Number of Cyber Attacks As Other Industries
Healthcare has become the second largest sector of the U.S. economy, accounting for 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, and is rivaled only by U.S. Federal Government’s 20% share of GDP in the same year. Not surprisingly, IT spending in healthcare is keeping pace, reaching $100 billion in 2017. As healthcare sector technology spending grows, so does the sector’s…
A wave of Telegram hacks hits: How to protect your account
Just like social media accounts, Telegram accounts are hijacking targets — especially if they are linked to channels with a lot of subscribers. Such accounts were in the crosshairs of a recent wave of attacks. This post explains how it happens and what to do about it. Let’s go! How are Telegram accounts hacked and…
Thanatos Ransomware Makes Data Recovery Impossible
A newly discovered ransomware family is generating a different encryption key for each of the encrypted files but saves none of them, thus making data recovery impossible. Dubbed Thanatos, the malware was discovered by MalwareHunterTeam and already analyzed by several other security researchers. When encrypting files on a computer, the malware appends the .THANATOS extension…
The global cyber war is heating up: Why businesses should be worried
Last Friday, the Department of Justice indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies for interfering with the 2016 elections. Also last week, several countries including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Denmark accused Russia of being behind last summer’s NotPetya attack. “[NotPetya] was part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine, and it demonstrates ever more clearly…
3 Million New Android Malware Samples Discovered in 2017
More than 3 million new malware samples targeting the Android operating system were discovered in 2017, marking a slight decrease from the previous year, G Data reports. The security firm counted 3,002,482 new Android malware samples during 2017, at an average of 8,225 per day, or 343 new malware samples every hour. Although the number…